Design has a key role in improving the prosperity of the UK

The Design Council helps to nurture new design thinking, encourage debate and inform government policy. Their vision is to create a better world by design.

The design economy has a key role to play in improving the prosperity of the UK. Yet a recent review of official statistics suggests we may be underestimating the productivity of the design economy. Stephen Miller discusses the challenges of calculating the true value that design contributes to the economy.

In the UK, our economic productivity has been stagnating since the 2008 recession. That means that since then we’ve been working harder than we were before the recession to produce the same amount of goods and services. This comparatively poorer productivity has resulted in further stagnation in our wages and living standards (but that bit you probably didn’t need telling).